This year, it's more important than most to recognize veterans - here's why: Christopher Kelly

2015, is a particularly important year to recognize US veterans for several reasons.

ByChristopher Kelly This year we must pause to acknowledge the sacrifice of American veterans over hundreds of years in many different countries.

Americans have invaded or fought in 85 different countries, representing 44 percent of all of the countries in the world. We have been militarily involved with even more countries.

Out of 194 countries recognized by the UN, we have missed military involvement with only three--Andorra, Bhutan, and Liechtenstein.

Many of these invasions have, of course, been liberations. Just consider the D-day landings in occupied France, the annual commemoration of Liberation Day in the Netherlands, or the liberation of the Philippines from the Japanese.

Our military involvements have taken many forms. We have never invaded Portugal, for example, but we have had bases in the Azores since World War II, when they were installed to counter the German U-boat menace. We still have air and naval bases in the Azores today.

This year, 2015, is a particularly important year to recognize US veterans for several reasons.

First, this year we celebrated the 70th anniversary of V-J Day--the end of World War II. This war was the costliest war in human history. Over sixteen million Americans took part in it, and over four hundred thousand were killed. Today less than a million of those that served are still alive.

Second, we also marked this year the 70th anniversary of V-E Day. With the exception of the breakup of Yugoslavia, Europe has enjoyed a seventy-year period of general peace.

Given the blood-soaked history of Europe through two world wars, the Napoleonic wars, the Hundred Years' War, the Thirty Years' War, etc., this is a remarkable achievement which is underappreciated.

This lasting peace could not have been secured without the sacrifice of the US military during World War II and in further service over many decades.

Third, we remember the shocking liberation of the Nazi death camps by American and other Allied soldiers that took place seventy years ago.

After Eisenhower visited Ohrdruf concentration camp, which had been liberated by American troops on April 4, 1945, he declared: "We are told that the American soldier does not know what he is fighting for. Now at least he will know what he is fighting against."

The world we live in today would have been much darker had it not been for the sacrifice of young Americans at places like Anzio, Omaha Beach, and Tarawa.

Finally, we remember that a lasting peace could not be achieved without an enduring American commitment. American military involvement succeeded the violent ending of the war as Germany and Japan were occupied.

NATO was formed to counter Soviet Communism and the Warsaw Pact.

Though we Americans first invaded Italy in 1943, we still have over 11,000 troops serving in Italy today at bases such as Aviano Air Base in Venezia and Camp Darby near Pisa. Spencer Stone, the heroic US airman who intervened to halt a terrorist incident on a train in Europe this past August, had been based in Portugal.

In the twenty-first century, the United States faces major new challenges to its power and influence around the world (ISIS, etc.), and it will face new demands to fight in the name of justice and freedom.

We can't know what the future holds, and we can't predict how this generation of Americans and those yet to come will deal with that future, but we do know that they build on a solid foundation of bravery, daring, and sacrifice.

Christopher Kelly is the author, with Stuart Laycock, of America Invades: How We've Invaded or Been Militarily Involved With Almost Every Country on Earth. For more information, please visit, www.amerciainvades.com.